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| A scene from "Ultraworld," directed by Susanne Kennedy / Courtesy of National Theater of Korea |
By Park Ji-won
Can virtual reality replace the real world?" Many might think that this metaphysical question arose only with the introduction of new technologies in the 21st century, but actually, it has existed since ancient times, as in the Allegory of the Cave by Greek philosopher Plato.
German theater director Susanne Kennedy, whose work focuses on providing post-human, post-anthropocentric perspectives, has also been interested in this topic. When the concept of metaverse started to spread recently, she focused on the similarity between the theatrical play and the metaverse, which are both types of "illusions," and decided to combine the two in "Ultraworld," which premiered in Germany in January 2020 and will be performed for the second time at the National Theater of Korea (NTOK), from Thursday to Saturday.
"In many traditions, virtual reality is something that people thought about for a long time, like Plato's Allegory of the Cave. The question of simulation: 'Do we live in a simulation?' 'Everything is an illusion.' Theater is also an illusion. Theater is also a technology of simulation. We have another tool to reflect back on our own reality," Kennedy told reporters on Wednesday.
Taking inspiration from by James Carse's book "Finite and Infinite Games," which sees life as a series of infinite and finite games, she sets up the story of Frank, the lead male character, who is placed as an avatar in a game world called "Ultraworld," where he struggles in this infinite game, so that audiences can also follow his journey of finding meaning in life.
Stressing that the repetitive game setting is also reflected in Korea's megahit Netflix original series "Squid Game," she said, "Frank stands for everybody. We have to discover how to live this life. We follow him. He basically learns that the people he loves die. He refuses the basic setup of the game. That is life. He can only continue in the game when he accepts that. But it take a long time to learn. In that sense, Ultraworld is a reflection of our own struggles of mortality."
She added that after experiencing the death of one of her colleagues when she was younger, she realized that mortality is everyone's fate and that confronting death is more helpful than being passive about it.
Kennedy added that she wanted to express big questions via this theatrical work, such as "Who are we?," "Where do we come from?," and "Where do we go?" while aiming to portray a person's journey of self-realization in a way that is not too dark.
One of the unique things about the play is that the director not only introduces the concept of the metaverse, but she also abundantly employs techniques that are not often used in plays. The stage set is all designed by computer and a projector sends videos and images onto the stage ― transforming the bare set, while the actors "wear" the projections ― which helps produce the sense that audiences are viewing a virtual environment. The lines, music and sound effects have been pre-recorded, and the actor does not speak any lines with his real voice.
The play will be performed in German and English, while Korean subtitles will be provided.
